Help For the Game Of Quax

Introduction

Welcome to the network Quax server. The rules of Quax are given below. The
Quax challenge command is described here. Other commands are the
same for all pbmserv games.

quax challenge [-size=number] userid1userid2

Start a new game between userid1
and userid2

The -size parameter sets the overall
board size. This must be in the range 3..26 with the default being 11.

Rules

Player Vert (V) wins
by connecting the top and bottom edges of the board with a chain of V
pieces, while player Horz (H)
wins by connecting the left and right edges of the board with a chain of H pieces.

Each turn the current player must either:
(a) Add one of their pieces to an empty board
point; or
(b) Link two of their diagonally adjacent pieces
(unless a link already exists there to block it).

Two pieces of the same colour are connected if they are orthogonally (squarely)
adjacent, or diagonally adjacent and a link exists between them. For instance
the following diagrams show a link connecting two H
pieces and link connecting two V pieces.

. . . . . . . .

. V H . . V H . / \
. H V . . H V .

. . . . . . . .

Once a link is placed the opponent cannot link over it and no other link
can be placed across it. Note however that the rules allow players to replace
an existing link of theirs with a new one in the same direction, effectively
allowing them to pass for that turn.

Example Game

Below is an 8x8 game of Quax won by Vert, who has completed a chain of V
pieces from top to bottom.

A B
C D E F G H

8 . . . V . . . . 8

7 . . . V H H H H 8\
6 H H H H V . . . 8

5 . . . . V . . . 8

4 . . . . V V . . 8/
3 . . . V H
V H H 8 \
/
2 . . V V . H V . 8

1 .
. V . . . V . 8 A
B C D E F
G H

The winning Vert chain consists of a number of orthogonally (squarely)
adjacent V pieces, as
well as two pairs of diagonally adjacent V
pieces connected by the link symbols \
and /.

Syntax

Moves are specified in the usual format "quax move board# userid password
action" where action is one of:

F6 Place a piece at coordinate F6, which must be empty.
B2-C3 Place a link between the diagonally adjacent pieces at B2 and C3,
both of which must belong to the current player.

swap Horz may elect to swap Vert's opening move as their first play.
This ensures that Vert does not start with too strong an opening move.